Optimal simplices and codes in projective spaces

We find many tight codes in compact spaces, i.e., optimal codes whose optimality follows from linear programming bounds. In particular, we show the existence (and abundance) of several hitherto unknown families of simplices in quaternionic projective spaces and the octonionic projective plane. The most noteworthy cases are 15-point simplices in HP^2 and 27-point simplices in OP^2, both of which are the largest simplices and the smallest 2-designs possible in their respective spaces. These codes are all universally optimal, by a theorem of Cohn and Kumar. We also show the existence of several positive-dimensional families of simplices in the Grassmannians of subspaces of R^n with n <= 8; close numerical approximations to these families had been found by Conway, Hardin, and Sloane, but no proof of existence was known. Our existence proofs are computer-assisted, and the main tool is a variant of the Newton-Kantorovich theorem. This effective implicit function theorem shows, in favorable conditions, that every approximate solution to a set of polynomial equations has a nearby exact solution. Finally, we also exhibit a few explicit codes, including a configuration of 39 points in OP^2 that form a maximal system of mutually unbiased bases. This is the last tight code in OP^2 whose existence had been previously conjectured but not resolved.Comment: 53 page

An Upper Bound On the Size of Locally Recoverable Codes

In a {\em locally recoverable} or {\em repairable} code, any symbol of a codeword can be recovered by reading only a small (constant) number of other symbols. The notion of local recoverability is important in the area of distributed storage where a most frequent error-event is a single storage node failure (erasure). A common objective is to repair the node by downloading data from as few other storage node as possible. In this paper, we bound the minimum distance of a code in terms of its length, size and locality. Unlike previous bounds, our bound follows from a significantly simple analysis and depends on the size of the alphabet being used. It turns out that the binary Simplex codes satisfy our bound with equality; hence the Simplex codes are the first example of a optimal binary locally repairable code family. We also provide achievability results based on random coding and concatenated codes that are numerically verified to be close to our bounds.Comment: A shorter version has appeared in IEEE NetCod, 201

New Quasi-Cyclic Codes from Simplex Codes

As a generalization of cyclic codes, quasi-cyclic (QC) codes contain many good linear codes. But quasi-cyclic codes studied so far are mainly limited to one generator (1-generator) QC codes. In this correspondence, 2-generator and 3-generator QC codes are studied, and many good, new QC codes are constructed from simplex codes. Some new binary QC codes or related codes, that improve the bounds on maximum minimum distance for binary linear codes are constructed. They are 5-generator QC [93, 17, 34] and [254, 23, 102] codes, and related [96, 17, 36], [256, 23, 104] codes.Comment: 3 page

Bounds and Constructions of Locally Repairable Codes: Parity-check Matrix Approach

A $q$-ary $(n,k,r)$ locally repairable code (LRC) is an $[n,k,d]$ linear code over $\mathbb{F}_q$ such that every code symbol can be recovered by accessing at most $r$ other code symbols. The well-known Singleton-like bound says that $d \le n-k-\lceil k/r\rceil +2$ and an LRC is said to be optimal if it attains this bound. In this paper, we study the bounds and constructions of LRCs from the view of parity-check matrices. Firstly, a simple and unified framework based on parity-check matrix to analyze the bounds of LRCs is proposed. Several useful structural properties on $q$-ary optimal LRCs are obtained. We derive an upper bound on the minimum distance of $q$-ary optimal $(n,k,r)$-LRCs in terms of the field size $q$. Then, we focus on constructions of optimal LRCs over binary field. It is proved that there are only 5 classes of possible parameters with which optimal binary $(n,k,r)$-LRCs exist. Moreover, by employing the proposed parity-check matrix approach, we completely enumerate all these 5 classes of possible optimal binary LRCs attaining the Singleton-like bound in the sense of equivalence of linear codes.Comment: 18 page

Kirkman Equiangular Tight Frames and Codes

An equiangular tight frame (ETF) is a set of unit vectors in a Euclidean space whose coherence is as small as possible, equaling the Welch bound. Also known as Welch-bound-equality sequences, such frames arise in various applications, such as waveform design and compressed sensing. At the moment, there are only two known flexible methods for constructing ETFs: harmonic ETFs are formed by carefully extracting rows from a discrete Fourier transform; Steiner ETFs arise from a tensor-like combination of a combinatorial design and a regular simplex. These two classes seem very different: the vectors in harmonic ETFs have constant amplitude, whereas Steiner ETFs are extremely sparse. We show that they are actually intimately connected: a large class of Steiner ETFs can be unitarily transformed into constant-amplitude frames, dubbed Kirkman ETFs. Moreover, we show that an important class of harmonic ETFs is a subset of an important class of Kirkman ETFs. This connection informs the discussion of both types of frames: some Steiner ETFs can be transformed into constant-amplitude waveforms making them more useful in waveform design; some harmonic ETFs have low spark, making them less desirable for compressed sensing. We conclude by showing that real-valued constant-amplitude ETFs are equivalent to binary codes that achieve the Grey-Rankin bound, and then construct such codes using Kirkman ETFs

New Construction of 2-Generator Quasi-Twisted Codes

Quasi-twisted (QT) codes are a generalization of quasi-cyclic (QC) codes. Based on consta-cyclic simplex codes, a new explicit construction of a family of 2-generator quasi-twisted (QT) two-weight codes is presented. It is also shown that many codes in the family meet the Griesmer bound and therefore are length-optimal. New distance-optimal binary QC [195, 8, 96], [210, 8, 104] and [240, 8, 120] codes, and good ternary QC [208, 6, 135] and [221, 6, 144] codes are also obtained by the construction.Comment: 4 page

Packing Lines, Planes, etc.: Packings in Grassmannian Space

This paper addresses the question: how should N n-dimensional subspaces of m-dimensional Euclidean space be arranged so that they are as far apart as possible? The results of extensive computations for modest values of N, n, m are described, as well as a reformulation of the problem that was suggested by these computations. The reformulation gives a way to describe n-dimensional subspaces of m-space as points on a sphere in dimension (m-1)(m+2)/2, which provides a (usually) lower-dimensional representation than the Pluecker embedding, and leads to a proof that many of the new packings are optimal. The results have applications to the graphical display of multi-dimensional data via Asimov's "Grand Tour" method.Comment: 36 pages, 15 figure

New Construction of A Family of Quasi-Twisted Two-Weight Codes

Based on cyclic and consta-cyclic simplex codes, a new explicit construction of a family of two-weight codes is presented. These two-weight codes obtained are in the form of 2-generator quasi-cyclic, or quasi-twisted structure. Based on this construction, new optimal binary quasi-cyclic [195, 8, 96], [210, 8, 104] and [240, 8, 120] codes, and good QC ternary [208, 6, 135] and [221, 6, 144] codes are thus obtained. It is also shown that many codes among the family meet the Griesmer bound and thereful are optimal.Comment: 4 pages, submitted to IEEE Trans. Information Theor

Numerical cubature using error-correcting codes

We present a construction for improving numerical cubature formulas with equal weights and a convolution structure, in particular equal-weight product formulas, using linear error-correcting codes. The construction is most effective in low degree with extended BCH codes. Using it, we obtain several sequences of explicit, positive, interior cubature formulas with good asymptotics for each fixed degree $t$ as the dimension $n \to \infty$. Using a special quadrature formula for the interval [arXiv:math.PR/0408360], we obtain an equal-weight $t$-cubature formula on the $n$-cube with O(n^{\floor{t/2}}) points, which is within a constant of the Stroud lower bound. We also obtain $t$-cubature formulas on the $n$-sphere, $n$-ball, and Gaussian $\R^n$ with $O(n^{t-2})$ points when $t$ is odd. When $\mu$ is spherically symmetric and $t=5$, we obtain $O(n^2)$ points. For each $t \ge 4$, we also obtain explicit, positive, interior formulas for the $n$-simplex with $O(n^{t-1})$ points; for $t=3$, we obtain O(n) points. These constructions asymptotically improve the non-constructive Tchakaloff bound. Some related results were recently found independently by Victoir, who also noted that the basic construction more directly uses orthogonal arrays.Comment: Dedicated to Wlodzimierz and Krystyna Kuperberg on the occasion of their 40th anniversary. This version has a major improvement for the n-cub

Reconstruction Codes for DNA Sequences with Uniform Tandem-Duplication Errors

DNA as a data storage medium has several advantages, including far greater data density compared to electronic media. We propose that schemes for data storage in the DNA of living organisms may benefit from studying the reconstruction problem, which is applicable whenever multiple reads of noisy data are available. This strategy is uniquely suited to the medium, which inherently replicates stored data in multiple distinct ways, caused by mutations. We consider noise introduced solely by uniform tandem-duplication, and utilize the relation to constant-weight integer codes in the Manhattan metric. By bounding the intersection of the cross-polytope with hyperplanes, we prove the existence of reconstruction codes with greater capacity than known error-correcting codes, which we can determine analytically for any set of parameters.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, Latex; version accepted for publicatio